Monday, November 3, 2008

Once Upon a Time

Once Upon a Time there was a princess named Dea. She grew up in a beautiful tower, with golden sheets and carpets and curtains made of silk. There was a noble prince who was there to protect her at all times from the Evil Dragon. She had never seen this Dragon, but she lived in fear of it every day of her life. She was also incredibly grateful for the brave knight who told her exactly what to do everyday, stories about how her parents had died, and was always on hand to open the magic jars of golden honey and sweet jam she had. Then one day, when Dea was grown she wanted some Jam in the middle of the night. She was very tired and in her sleepy state she reached up to the cupboard and took out a jar of honey and opened it. She was stunned. She had been able to open the jars her whole life. Wouldn't the knight be happy when he found out. He wasn't happy. He was furious. He told her that her ability to open jars was a deceitful gift from the Evil Dragon himself, which made her unappreciative of her beautiful tower and her brave knight. The princess was confused. She knew she wasn't being tricked by the dragon, but just in case, she put the jars away. The next few weeks she continued to call for the night to open her jars, but was beginning to find it increasingly ridiculous. She just started opening the jars herself in the middle of the night, or on days when the knight was gone and she usually didn't get to eat any honey or jam. One day while he was gone, she decided she would take a walk outside her tower, just to enjoy the sun. She decided to stay close though, so she could avoid the Evil Dragon. the princess walked around her balcony and spun and played for several hours, eating jam and honey. The next day, she thought about how weird it was that the dragon never showed up. Wouldn't the knight be pleased when he found that there really was no dragon, and that she could now take care of herself. They could slay dragons together and they could eat jams and honey together and things would be wonderful. When the knight came back, she ran out on the balcony to greet him. He suddenly got very very angry and took her roughly by the arm and slapped her in the face. He then threw her to the ground inside her golden room and locked the door. He wasn't treating her like a princess at all. "Have you no respect for this beautiful tower I made you? Have you no respect for your princesshood? Have you no respect for how I help you to open your jars of jam and honey, which you can barely do yourself without swooning! You are possessed of an evil spirit from the dragon!"

The princess looked around. Suddenly she was very angry and confused. She knew she could open up the jars by herself. She knew she could play outside all day and not be attacked by a dragon. She banged on the door and tried breaking out but the knight would come in and slap her, or scream at her. She swiftly learned her lesson and stayed put, but she was suddenly very depressed. Her beautiful tower now felt like a prison. It was a prison. When the knight would come in, she would scream and plead and say " I love my tower, but I love other things too! Please let me out and stop being ridiculous." She would just be slapped around the room, or mocked, or told she was possessed or that she didn't love her tower and was terribly ungrateful. She started to lose heart. Eventually she stopped trying and just sat on her golden bed in the dark, hair unkempt and skin sallow. She couldn't get out. She started to pretend like she couldn't open the jars, and would make large show of how terrified she was of the "dragon". The knight treated her like a princess during those times but she knew it was a lie. Other noblewomen and men came to see the princess. She was dilapidated, sick and going slightly insane from having to pretend to be unable to open jars and believe in dragons. She would hear the knight tell them that she was in such a depressed delapitated state because she had had too much sun, had been possessed by the Evil Dragon and had lost all respect for her tower and her beloved knight. She was rapidly begininng to hate her beloved knight.She was beginning to have dreams about throwing herself from the tower. She didn't though because she knew that the knight would only say that the dragon had made her do it, and then he would never be punished. When she tried to tell the other ladies and nobles in the court about it, they assumed that she was ungrateful and possessed and either got angry and slapped her across the face for telling such lies, or politely ignored her and told her not to get worked up about little things like that.

There was no dragon, just an Evil knight. One day the princess pretended to be very ill, stole his sword and stabbed him in the back. She slew her Evil Dragon, and tossed him out of the window. Dea spent the rest of her life living peacfully in her lovely tower, eating jam and honey and playing in the sun. Dea left when she needed to, ate when she needed to and found her parents, who were not dead, but alive and missing her terribly. Apparently she had been kidnapped by a knight who wanted a princess so bad that he had stolen one away from her parents.